The present disclosure relates generally to an assemblage of containers, and particularly to an assemblage of containers containing reams of paper and supported by a shipping pallet.
Historically, the communications papers industry has used 47-inch×35½-inch (47×35½) block or stringer pallets as the primary shipping platforms for cut-size paper. The most common packaging configuration used by the paper industry is the 8.5″×11″ sheet size with 500 sheets per ream and 10 reams per carton with the reams configured in two 5-ream stacks side by side. The block or stringer pallet size accommodates an 8-carton layer footprint for product that fit almost perfectly to the pallet area dimensions with minimal under-hang or over-hang of the cartons relative to the pallet. The stability of the perfect cube of product on the pallet allows the 40 carton pallet configuration (5 layers of the 8 carton footprint) to be safely stacked 3 or 4 pallets high in warehouses and easily accommodated shipment in truck and rail cars with minimal load shifting and minimal bracing to prevent product damage during transit. Over the past 20 years as cut size paper sales migrated into retail distribution channels, these customers required the use of a different pallet size, the 48-inch×40-inch GMA (Grocery Manufacturers of America) design to fit in the standard rack stacking systems routinely used for storage of all products in this industry. For operational ease, in the paper industry the same identical standard carton footprints patterns used on the block and stringer pallets were simply transferred and used routinely on the GMA pallet. In the case of the most common product packaging configuration of cut size product (the 8.5″×11″, 10 ream carton), the standard 8-case layer pallet pattern configuration has usually been adopted. Because this pallet size is now larger than the footprint of the traditional 8-case layer pattern, it creates an under-hang situation of carton footprint relative to the pallet. When attempting to stack the pallets in storage without racks, the upper pallets are no longer supported to the edge of the pallet by the cartons in the lower pallet cube units, creating a less stable stacking unit. Also, during shipment the under-hang of the product on the pallet increases the opportunity for the product damage to occur due to carton shifting in the space that now exists between the carton unit blocks on the pallet, even when the pallets are touching in the load pattern.
To compensate for stacking instability and product damage, material handlers typically limit the heights at which the unit loads are stored to three unit loads per stack. However, in most cases the third unit load is pyramided, that is, it is positioned such that it straddles two side-by-side unit loads. By pyramiding, material handlers are able to store unit loads three high, but they lose ⅓ of a floor spot for every pyramided unit.
Also, to gain storage density and to make pyramiding more practical, material handlers must concentrate like SKUs in one area. This affects operational efficiency in that block storage limits the material handlers' ability to slot SKUs according to the velocity at which they flow in and out of the warehouse. This leads to longer travel distances, which in turn, adds cost by reducing efficiency and increasing truck maintenance and fuel costs.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for palletizing a plurality of layers of containers containing reams of paper in a more ecologically friendly manner that is also suitable for stable long distance transportation and stable stacking at the destination point.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.